The Problem With Being an Underage Animagus
by RainyDaysAndGoodBooks
Summary: All Hugo wanted to do was go for a simple, albeit illegal, flight as a kestrel. Unfortunately his flight took him right into a town full of muggles, and now he's entangled (literally) in a town containing a strange girl, far too much bird-netting, and a pack of possible were-wolves. Oh Merlin.
**Kenmare Kestrals**

 **Chaser 3**

 **Prompts: "Sometimes I really dislike you," "There's no such thing as magic!" and surprise**

 **Word count: 2551 - 2750**

Hugo struggled frantically against the slick black bird-netting. _Oh no_ , he thought, _oh no. This can't be happening_. His imagination swirled with all the possible outcomes (none of them were the least bit pleasant). He could be taken to a wildlife center and forced to live the rest of his life in a tiny metal cage. Or he could be eaten alive by a large ginger cat itching to eat tiny birds like Hugo. Perhaps he would even be found by the ministry and locked away for eternity. He could see it now: "Youngest Weasley-Granger Child Illegally Becomes Kestrel Animagus. Flies 137,648 Kilometers. Sentenced to 78 Years in Azkaban."

Hugo hadn't planned on flying so far. It was his first real flight as a kestrel, though and he had kept telling himself _just a little farther, just a few more meters_. He hadn't planned on going down to the ground either. But then he had seen it: a large juicy earthworm, and before his Hugo-brain could tell him not to, his kestrel-instincts had propelled him down to the ground and, most unfortunately, right into a large patch of bird-netting covered strawberries. Now he was very stuck, and the earthworm had long since disappeared.

Hugo had just given up on turning back into a boy and began pecking at the netting when a slightly pudgy girl with curling strawberry blonde hair stumbled into the field of strawberries. She was wearing a large sort of sweatshirt covered in curling silver letters, and was clutching a striped blue. . .fellytone! Hugo proudly remembered. "What do you mean you told Mum I would drive you to Tom's house!" she was saying irritably into her fellytone. Hugo flattened himself under the netting. "I have plans on Saturday, you know," she continued, glaring at a rock. There was a pause. "Sometimes I really dislike you," the girl said angrily and hastily hung up her fellytone.

Hugo tried desperately to look like a strawberry field. _Please don't find me,_ Hugo thought, _please_ , but at that very moment the girl, who had been walking carelessly along the field, gave a small gasp of shock and headed directly for Hugo.

"Awwww," she said drawing closer and closer. Hugo tried to shuffle away underneath the netting, but the netting had trapped him so securely he couldn't even open his beak. Her fingertips were millimeters from him now, and he could see the cracks in the chipped orange varnish covering her nails.

And then- Hugo felt it. A kind of tingling, prickly pain. His claws stretched into feet, feathers melded into pale, freckly skin, and he shot up taller and taller. _Oh no,_ he thought _no, no, noooo_. He had just done magic in front of a muggle, and to make it worse, the magic was quite illegal. He was going to Azkaban. His mum was going to kill him. He was going to be one of those poor fools Professor Schultz taught about in 'Magic Safety and Secrecy.'

The girl had leapt backwards, her strawberry curls bouncing around her face. He round eyes had widened to the size of saucers and her mouth was opening and closing soundlessly with surprise.

Hugo braced himself for the onslaught of questions. "You were a bird." The girl looked like she was about to faint. "And now you're a boy," she continued her eyes still abnormally wide. "You're- magical." The girl looked like she had a million questions, but she didn't seem to be able to get anymore out and was gaping soundlessly once again.

 _Oh Merlin_ , Hugo thought. How was he ever going to cover this up? "There's no such thing as magic!" he blurted out. The girl's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"But- how- a bird can't just change into a boy!" she spluttered gesturing frantically. Hugo wondered how much trouble he would get into if he tried to obliviate her.

"I'm- a magician!" he cried desperately. "You know, the ones who pull gallons from under your ears and snuggle knives and ride uni-sickles." Hugo was grasping at straws, and he could feel his forehead reddening with the pressure. Why, oh why hadn't he gone over Grandpa and Grandma Granger's more often?

The girl looked even more confused. "Like- like some kind of weird circus magician-clown?"

"Yes!" Hugo cried latching on to her idea. "I'm with the circuits."

"You mean the circus." The girl looked dubious.

"Yes, yes. That's what I meant." Hugo realized that he was only digging himself deeper into a hole. "I have to go. It's time to feed the hippogriffs. They're for the zoo, of course," he said hoping to make a quick getaway.

"So, you are magical." The girl's eyes were narrowed in distrust.

"No, no. Did I say hippogriffs? I meant- tigers." _Were tigers 'magical'?_ Hugo really hoped not. "So many animals." He laughed nervously. "It's hard not to get confused. I'd really better get going."

"No," the girl said firmly. "Something fishy's going on and you're going to tell me what. And, while you're at it, you can tell me how you changed from a bird to a boy." _Would she say anything to her friends if Hugo left now? She probably would seeing as she refused to believe Hugo. Would the ministry find out?_ Hugo didn't want to take that chance.

"You're on TV!" Hugo thanked Merlin that Rose was so obsessed with TV shows. "Surprise!" he shouted hoping he was convincing enough.

"Really?" The girl's eyes flickered from side to side. "I-. Oh. I guess I just really hoped that magic was real." The girl laughed humorlessly. "I mean it could fix- I'm just having a lot of problems right now. You know, nevermind. Please forget I said anything." The girl's face crumpled, and Hugo almost felt bad, but he was far too relieved to focus on anything else. "Where are the camera's?" the girl asked trying, unsuccessfully, to look as though the whole thing hadn't bothered her.

"They're pretty well hidden," Hugo lied through his teeth. Hastily, he tried to change the subject, and ignoring the girl's request said, "Anyway, what problems are you having?"

"Can we not do this on camera," the girl said much to Hugo's surprise.

"Of course," Hugo agreed.

They walked along a winding dusty path that wove through a cool forest, Hugo subtly checking his watch and trying not to panic at the time and the girl simply looking around her.

"I don't know why I'm going to tell you this," the girl said laughing awkwardly. "I mean you're a complete stranger." Hugo tried not to look too conspicuous. "I guess that's part of why I'm telling you," the girl continued. "Anyway, I guess it all started when I moved here. You would think it would be quiet here, right? But there's this group of guys that like to pretend to be wolves about once a month." Alarm bells began ringing in Hugo's head.

"Err. . . what exactly do you mean by that?" Hugo asked fearfully.

"Well you know, they just make howling noises at the moon and run around at night and pretend to eat animals, normal wolf things." Hugo was pretty sure those weren't boys 'acting' like wolves. He was also pretty sure they weren't 'pretending' to eat animals. _Werewolves_ , he though fearfully as he felt his face pale. "Soooo," she continued. "I was wondering if because you're a magician . . . you could help me get rid of them?"

"I-" Oh Merlin. Hugo was in underaged wizard. He couldn't do magic out of school! He had to get out of this. These were werewolves. He should be calling the ministry! All he had to do was say no. All of his cousins were _always_ telling him he had to learn to say no. _Come on, Hugo_ , he told himself, _just say no._ "I- I have- . . . I would love to help you!"

The girl grinned widely. "Thanks a ton. Seriously. This is going to be amazing!" Hugo silently cursed himself.

"What's the plan?" he asked morosely, already contemplating all the ways they could die.

The girl's plan was ridiculously long and complicated, and Hugo was quite sure it wouldn't do more than slightly annoy the werewolves (if they were werewolves).

"Are you sure that's going to work?" he asked hesitantly.

The girl turned to look at him. "You're a magician," she said. "You can make anything work, right?"

"I- er- a magician does have his limitations. . ." he said slowly. The girl's forehead began to crinkle. "But we can make it work!" he finished.

"Great," the girl smiled widely, "Let's do this!"

One trip to the store later and they were on their way to the park, bags overflowing with an assortment of odd products. Hugo was quite sure none of them would work against werewolves.

When they finally arrived at the park, it was bathed in a yellowy glow. The sky was painted orange and gold, and the sun slowly slipped further and further out of view. "We don't have much time," the girl said, and Hugo felt his heartbeat do an Irish jig in his chest when he remembered the possible werewolves.

"Where do we start?" asked Hugo, clutching his wand tightly in his pocket.

"Why don't we put marbles on the ground first, and then we can start on the paint and other things." Hugo was ninety nine percent sure that wasn't going to work.

"I'm not sure-" he began, but he was cut off by the sound of howls. Hugo felt his breath began to quicken, and unconsciously, he shot a feather-light charm at the girl, grabbed her arm, and prepared to turn into a kestrel. _Why did I let her drag me into this?_ he thought.

"Wait!" said the girl. "How are we supposed to stop them if we're just going to run away?"

"We're not," said Hugo. "Look, I really don't think you know how dangerous these kids are."

"They're really not that dangerous. They're just annoying. I know these kids. One of them is in my class." The girl was digging her heels into the grass now as though to stop herself from floating away.

"You don't get it!" cried Hugo. "These kids are wer-." Hugo stopped himself just in time, almost reeling in terror at how close he had come to revealing the wizarding world.

"What exactly are they?" said the girl, now attempting to cling to a nearby branch. Hugo opened his mouth but just then, three different things happened in quick succession. The girl screamed as she was pulled into the air by a gust of wind. A carton of eggs splattered on the ground hitting a nearby couple who yelled a few choice words in the direction of Hugo and the girl but miraculously missed the fact that the girl was not being supported by Hugo but rather, the wind. And then a group of boys- who seemed to be howling as they ran, hunched, over the hill.

For a moment, Hugo simply stood still in shock. Thoughts bounced around his head like kernels in a lidless popcorn maker. _There weren't actually any werewolves. He had done magic on a muggle and now she was floating above his head. Every single one of the boys pretending to be wolves could probably see that the girl was actually floating._

Then, as though a switch had flipped on in his brain, he leapt up, grabbed the girl, who, tumbled down on top of him, and fell ungracefully to the grass. "Are- are you alright?" said Hugo, shaking the girl roughly and feeling as though he was about to faint. The girl didn't respond. Hugo felt his stomach clench as he saw a large plum colored bruise slowly bloom onto her forehead, and he sighed in relief when he saw her chest slowly rising and falling.

When he finally looked up, every one of the boys pretending to be wolves staring at him in shock. Hugo almost cursed. The boys pretending to be wolves glanced at each other silently, before seemingly coming to an agreement and simultaneously growling ferociously as they encircled Hugo and the girl.

Hugo was mad. He was probably going to miss dinner. He might have killed a girl that he had just met. There was every possibility he was going to be in serious trouble for using underage magic. And now, these _hooligans_ , thought they could just growl at him like he was nobody?

"NO" he cried. "This is NOT okay! You can't just run around scaring people and pretending to be wolves."

"Dude," said one of the boys pretending to be wolves, finally ceasing to growl. "Did that girl just fly?" Hugo felt his face pale.

"I know that girl," said another with coppery skin and long lanky limbs. "She goes to my school."

"No! Of course she didn't fly," cried Hugo desperately. "I mean, that would be crazy right?"

"Well she was definitely in the air," said a boy wearing glasses so thick, Hugo was surprised he could even see out of them.

"It's uhh- all a misconception," said Hugo. "We were actually doing acro-yoga. Haven't you heard of it? It's err . . . this really popular new thing. It's all about balance."

"Oh. Well that was pretty cool, what you just did there," said another of the boys wearing a neon yellow shirt that was practically glowing in the darkness.

"Yeah, until we fell down," said Hugo laughing nervously. "I guess we just didn't have enough balance." A couple of the boys nodded in understanding and Hugo felt a wave of relief wash over him. Then he remembered how he had gotten into this mess in the first place. "But anyway we came here because you guys need to stop pretending to be wolves. You're scaring loads of people and the residents think you're really annoying. Please, just stop."

The boys exchanged looks of incredulity. "Bruh," one called with a characteristically American twang to his voice, "with all due respect, no way." Hugo could have cried in frustration.

"But . . . why not?" Hugo realized too late that he didn't have an argument.

"Because it's awesome, mate," said the first boy that had spoken, a note of incredulity in his voice.

"Anyway, we have to go," said the boy with the glasses. And they ran off howling into the night.

Just then he heard a groan at his feet. The girl, it seemed, had woken. "I'm sorry," he said miserably. "I couldn't stop them." The girl blinked at him in confusion.

"What happened? she asked. "I remember- flying?" Hugo laughed hoping to pass it off as a dream.

"We were just trying to put up stuff to scare away those boys when you fell and hit your head. You were out for a while." This time, Hugo felt almost guilty about lying. He wasn't sure if it was because of the way her face lit up when she talked about magic or simply because it was his fault she had hit her head in the first place.

He shuffled his feet awkwardly as the girl clambered to her feet. "Well, err . . . I guess this is goodbye then."

"It's fine about the boys," said the girl. "I don't really mind them anyway. I just wanted to prank them. Anyway goodbye . . . I'm sorry. After all we've been through you would think I'd know your name." She laughed, combing grass out of her now wildly messy curls.

"It's fine, I don't know your name either. Mine's Hugo, by the way."

"Bethany," she said, smiling at him.

"Well, goodbye Bethany," Hugo said. "I'm glad we got to spend the day together." It was entirely true, despite all the trouble Hugo was sure he'd be in when he got back.

"Me too," she said, and then "Goodbye."

Hugo had just turned to walk out of the park when the girl- Bethany, called out him. "Wait," she yelled. Hugo turns. "I just thought I should be honest with you. I wasn't really angry with those boys. I just wanted another friend. Our town's pretty small, and most of my friends are moving away. I'm sorry," she said unhappily.

To his surprise, Hugo wasn't angry at all. "It's fine," he called. "And . . . err . . . are you free next Saturday?"

"Same place, same time?" she grinned, and Hugo smiled back.

Despite the lectures he knew were awaiting him, Hugo couldn't keep the grin unfurling across his face as he flew across the starry sky, beak pointed toward Hogwarts.


End file.
